A better question would be ... why don't you? :) You may answer your own question about why other people do.

I don't bother with it unless I need to remove something from the water - but all of my tanks are planted, so there is usually little need of that. I never medicate into the planted tank (fingers crossed I don't end up with ich or velvet that I have to medicate the whole tank for!), so I never need to remove medications.

If it comes in the filter media I don't replace it when it gets old. It just becomes another way to grow BB.

If you are using meds in a filtered tank fresh carbon can remove it from the water. I'm not sure about ferts added to the water.

There is a huge debate about whether ferts are removed by carbon. Some say they aren't, others say they are. I think a lot of planted tank people just err on the side of caution. I don't see a difference with or without it myself ... I just prefer media that doesn't have to be replaced so frequently, since carbon can become "overloaded" and leech stuff back into the tank that it's supposedly removed.

A better question would be ... why don't you? :) You may answer your own question about why other people do.

I don't bother with it unless I need to remove something from the water - but all of my tanks are planted, so there is usually little need of that. I never medicate into the planted tank (fingers crossed I don't end up with ich or velvet that I have to medicate the whole tank for!), so I never need to remove medications.

Well I don't use it because my betta seems to do well without it :) all I care about with filtration in a betta tank is BB. That's why I use a mini sponge filter ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by registereduser

If it comes in the filter media I don't replace it when it gets old. It just becomes another way to grow BB.

If you are using meds in a filtered tank fresh carbon can remove it from the water. I'm not sure about ferts added to the water.

The removing meds thing makes sense, but can't one just do a couple extra water changes to get rid of it? And I thought carbon can leach harmful things into the water if left in the filter too long, or is that just a myth?

The removing meds thing makes sense, but can't one just do a couple extra water changes to get rid of it? And I thought carbon can leach harmful things into the water if left in the filter too long, or is that just a myth?

A better question would be ... why don't you? :) You may answer your own question about why other people do.

I don't bother with it unless I need to remove something from the water - but all of my tanks are planted, so there is usually little need of that. I never medicate into the planted tank (fingers crossed I don't end up with ich or velvet that I have to medicate the whole tank for!), so I never need to remove medications.

I have found this product for treatment/preventative of fish illness that is safe for everything, I recently had an ich breakout from some plants I bought, I had never thought about plants carrying ich, but they can all it takes is a few cysts on the plants, anyways I have more kinds of fish besides bettas and yeah the nightmare of which meds work and are safe for which kinds of fish is a nightmare, but anyways I found this product and it is safe for all fish plants and inverts and it actually works....http://www.aquariumconnection.com/detail.php?ID=40758

I was worried that new equipment would have chemicals on it and that I should use carbon for the first few days of a new setup, but if you rinse everything out well enough, it should be fine without carbon at all, right?

I have found this product for treatment/preventative of fish illness that is safe for everything, I recently had an ich breakout from some plants I bought, I had never thought about plants carrying ich, but they can all it takes is a few cysts on the plants, anyways I have more kinds of fish besides bettas and yeah the nightmare of which meds work and are safe for which kinds of fish is a nightmare, but anyways I found this product and it is safe for all fish plants and inverts and it actually works....http://www.aquariumconnection.com/detail.php?ID=40758

Yeah ... sorry, but I do not believe in "preventative" medications. The best prevention is a proper setup and quarantine procedures. This product suggests you just add it frequently to the tank - weekly? And they don't even tell you what's in it. I just can't advise adding anything to the tank without knowing what it is or why you need it. Chemicals for the sake of chemicals aren't good ... and anything where they don't publish the ingredients is gimmicky in my opinion. Honestly, that Fishkeeper stuff doesn't sound like it would be any more beneficial than having oak leaves or IAL in the tank, both of which have the same properties this product claims to have. And at least with oak or IAL, I know what I'm subjecting my fish to.